Flanging machine



Dec. 16, 1930. D E. STEVENS FLANGING MACHINE Filed July 30, 1929- 2 Sheets-Sheet l M a W J 0 v I q v M I I. W z 2 fi/ Z h III. x J QW W7: My I U a. I I w ,1 J m? 4 II I. "Wu II. III .aJu W II I IIIL MW w w I I. m I; x J m f H n I wwu III 4 .I. W III. 4 Il 5 IL Mm u fl T W i I 3 4 94 I :II II III I J .IL I. Ifi IFWW m H I 7 m rl i 7 h 1/ 0 i W H 2 #I WW W G w Z M W l 1 5 w fl fi/ fi W 6 Z Dec. 16, 1930.

D. E. STEVENS FLANGING MACHINE Filed July 50, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 jazzglda d flfewwzd. I

Patented Dec'. 16, 1930 DOUGLAS n. STEVENS, o DEnvEn, COLORADO-j Francine MAoHI nE Application filed. Jul so,

This invention relates to-improvements in fianging machines. i

In places where sheet metal is worked into difierent articles, as for example in boiler works or other places where sheets of steel are cut and bent into shape to incorporate them into different articles 0fcom1nerce,it often becomes necessary to flange the edges of the plates. The flanges are sometimes straight and at other times concave or *convex. 1

- It is the object of this invention to produce a simple and substantial machine that shall be especially well adapted for flanging plates of any thickness and by means of which flangesiof difierent curvatures and-Yof dif ferent angles can readily be produced.

' It is a further object of this invention to produce a flanging device of such construction that itcan be attached to an ordinary punch press and operated by means of this press, and which is, therefore, especially well adapted for use in shops that are provided with such punch presses.

This invention briefly described consists of a flanging block which is adapted to rest upon the. upper surfaceof the supporting table of a punch press. This block is provided with a transverse recess, one side of' which has a perpendicular wall and the other side of which is formed by a cylindrical surface. On one side of the recess the block is which a plate clamp has one end pivotally at tached. The plate clampcarries a flanging arm whichis pivoted thereto,-and which is rotatable, about an axis that is parallel with the plane of the vertical wall of the recess. A main bearing block is secured to the plunger of the punch press, and this block is provided with downwardly projecting lugs, between which a lever is pivoted. The main bearing is provided at one end with a lug that is adapted to be engaged by the correspond ing ends of the lever. A spring is interposed between the other end of the lever and the bearing block and tensioned so as to normally hold the lever with one end against the under surface of the stop. Oneend of the lever is connected with the free end of the plate 1929. Serial No. 382,159."

clamp by means of two links, and the other end of the lever is connectedwith the'flangingarmby means of other links. When the plunger of the punch press moves upwardly and downwardly in the usual operation of the press, the clamp plate and the fiangingarm move as'a unit ,as longv as the plate clampis free to move and when the latter stops, due to its engagement with the upper surface of. the plate to be flanged, the flangingarm is rotated about its pivot and bends the edge of theplate, all in a'manner which will hereinafterbe more fully described. a

(Having thus briefly described the invention, the same will now loe described in detail, 7

and for this purpose reference will be had to the accompanying drawings, in which the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated, and inwhich;

Fig. l is aside elevation of my improved flanging machine. 1

"Fig. 2 is a section taken on line Fig. 1.} I I Fig. 3 isa section taken on line 33 Fig:

1, and shows the shapeof the die plates employed when a straight flange is to be bent.

Fig; 4 is a section similar to that shown in Fig. 3, but showing the shape of the'die plates when a convex flange'is to be bent.

-Fig. 5 i's a view similar to those shown in Figs. 3 and 4, and shows the shape of the dies employed 'when'a' concave flange is to be provided wlth an upwardly extendlng lug, to b entt icf.

i F ig. 6 is a section taken 011 line 6 6 Fig. 2.

Fig.7 is a section taken on line 7-7 F ig. 6'.

Fig.8 is afragmentary'section through one side of the Fig.7, and

Fig.9 is an end View of the Hanging arm. V

In the drawing numeral 1 indicates the supporting table of a punch press or of a similar machine, and numeral 2 indicates bymeans of dotted lines the lower end of the plun er which forms part of the punch press. cured to the lower end of the plunger is a main bearing which has beenv designated by numeral 3, and which is provided on its under side with two spaced downwardly extending lugs or cars 4, between which the lever 5 is mounted, and'to which it ispivotally attached plate clamp, taken on line 88 with a' downwardly projecting stop 7, against which the corresponding end of the lever is adapted to rest when the parts are innormal or inoperative posltion. Extending forwardly from the lugs 4 is a projection 8 that forms an abutment for the upper end of a hellcal compression spring 9, whose lower-end rests on the upper surface of the corresponding end of lever 5. Restingupon the surface of table 1 is an adjustable support consisting of a base member 10, one end of which has an upwardly extending wall 11. The'upper surface of "member 10 is inclined with respect to thefunder surface. thereof, and this inclined surface has" been designated by reference numeral 12. Supported'on the inclined surface12 is another wedge shaped member 13, the angle between whose opposite sides is the same as the angle between the inclinedsurface '12 and the baseof supporting member 10. These two members are assembledin the manner shown in Fig. 1, and form a support for; the fianging block which will presently be described. 'A screw 1d has afthr'eaded connection with one end of the wedge shaped block 13, and is rotatably mounted in the ver-.

tical' wallv 1'1. "This screw. is held against longitudinal movement with respect to wall 11, and therefore when it is rotated it will move member 13 relative to member 10, and in this manner will alter the distance between the upper surface of member 13 and thelower surface of member 10'. This adjustment will be hereinafter referred to. 1

Restingon the adjustable support, which has just been described, is a hanging block which consists of a block 15 whose bottom surface 16 lies in asingle plane. The rear vertical side of-this block is bounded by'a plane 17 that makes anangle of 90 degrees with plane 16, and this vertical surface terminates in an incline surface 18 that extends be-- tween the vertical surface 17 and the vertical surface 19. From the upper edge .of surface 19 the-block is provided with a forwardly extending surface 20 that is parallel with the bottom 16, and this terminates in a vertical surface 21, from the upper edge of which a plane surface 22 extends forwardly parallel with the base and terminates in an. incline surface 23, which is connected with the base by means of the vertical surface 245 and the vertical surface 25. Each end of this block is provided with a recess 26 towhich attentionwill hereinafter be directed. A' flanging die which in the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 6 is formed from tool steel made in the shape of an agle iron having fianges27 and 28.

which are located at right angles to each other. This die is held in place by means of screws 29. The other part of the flanging block has been designated by reference nu meral 30, and is-of substantially rectangular shape, but isprovided on its front upper cor,- ner with a cylindrical surface 31, and has extending upwardly from it'supper surface a lug 32. Thefront end of block 30 fits against the vertical surface 17 and is held in proper alignment with respect to block 15 by means of a key. The rear cornersof block 30' are provided with rectangular notches '33, corresponding to notches 26 in the corners of block 15. Blocks 15 and 30 are held in assembled relation by'end plates 34. These end plates are of the shape shown in Fig. 1, and are provided at opposite ends'with inwardly extendhas just been described; is supported on the adjustable support as shown in Fig. 1.

Pivotally attached to 1ug32 and rotatable about the axisof the steel pin 38 is a plate clamp which has been designated as a whole by reference numeral 39. This; clamp has two rearwardly extending spaced parallel armsf10,between-which the lug 32 is located and which are provided with openings for the reception of the pivot pin 38; The front end of the plate clamp is provided withtwo spaced recesses 41, inwhiohare located the lower end of links e2 These links are-provided with openings forthe reception of the steel pivot pin 43. The upperendsof links 12 are pivotally connected with the front end of lever 5 by means of thesteel pivot pin 14. The plate clamp is provided with twosemicircular bearings 45, one of which is shown quite clearly in Fig. 8, and-both of which are shown in Fig. 7. Located between the arms 40 of the plate clamp is a fianging arm 16, This flangingarm is provided with two trunnions;

47 that areadapted to rest in the-bearings 45, in the manner shown in Fig.7. The flanging arm hasa cylindricalsurface 48 that extends throughan' arc of slightly greater than degrees'and which terminates in an inclined end. portion 49., Arm- 416 isprovided withtwo recesses 50 which are adapted to receivethe lower ends of the linksj51 that are pivotally connected with the arm by means of a'steel pin 52. The upper-ends of links 51 are attached to'the rear. end of lever 5 by meansvof a steel pin 53. ,WVhenthe parts are in the position shown in Fig. 6 and when the machine is in inoperative position, surface 54 of arm 46 is held in a position parallel with the vertical surface 55 of theplateclamp,

but when the main bearing block is moved downwardly from'the position shown in Fig.

6, the lever5 will be forced to rotate about pin 6 for-the reasonthat when the plate clamp comes in contact. with the upper surface of 7 tion thereof. It is obvious that if the hear ing block 3 is moved upwardly from the posiplate 56 it "stops and v the jbea-ringeblock can" therefore continue to move onlyby rotating; I the flangingarm about the axis of trunnions: 47. The maximum extentofthe rotation of the fianging arm is 90 degrees, which brings; it into the position shownin Fig; 1. -j 1 a 1;

V The undersurface ofthe'plateiclamp is PTO-f videcl with azsteel faceplate 57 that 'iSsecured' to it by-m'eansof-screws. The surface 58 of the flangingarm is providedwith a recess in wh chis located, a removable steelplate 59, that is secured iniplaceby means of. screws 60. Plate 59 can be'replaced by plate ,of different shapes in the manner shown in Figs. 3, 4;, and;5, where plate 59a and 59?) show respectively die plates having concave and convex surfaces, which cooperates with the convex and concave surfaces 28a and 28b of the dieplate that is attached to the flanging block.

Having now described the construction of' the machine, I will 110w describe the opera tion shown in Fig 6 there will be no appreciable change in the relationship of the several parts attached to it. Spring 9 will hold the rear end of lever 5 against the bottom of stop 7 and theonly reason why an alteration in the respective position ofthe parts takes place is that the plate clamp moves about the center of the pivot 38, but as the angular movement is comparatively small,

' the changes effected thereby are not ap- I plate 56 is inserted between the adjacent surpreciable. I Let us now assume thatthe parts are 1n the positions shown in Fig. 6 and that a faces of thedie plates 57 and 27 until it is in the position shown. Let us now further the flanging arm has been rotated through an angle of 90 degrees. As 90 degrees is usually as large an angle as it is necessary to bend a flange this is as a rule the extreme limit, but by properly modifying thedies a flange can be bent through a greater angle than 90 degrees.

It will be seen from an inspection of the drawing that the angle through which the flanging arm is rotated can be varied by adjusting the position of the flnaging block with respect to the movement of bearing 3. As the flanging block does not begin to move until the plate clamp has engaged the upper surface-ofthe plate, itis evident-thatby moving the flanging block downwardly the plate clamp willcome into contact-withthe plate at a laterwperiod-and therefore the flanging arm will rotate through a smaller angle. The adjustable supportcom-prising members-10' and 13- therefore constitute means for controlling the angle through which theflange isbentw By this machine a comparatively short section of flange is bent at a time; and the plate is therefore moved while the partsreciprocate and for,

each operation 7 of the machine a certain" length of flange is bent to=the desired angle.

Ifithe flangeqisto be bent through an'angle less thanpdegrees, the die plates 28 and 59must be modified so as to conformto the angleofqthe finished flange.

From the above description it will be apparent 'thatflihave produced a simple mecha- -nism ,tl'ratf can be attached to an ordinarypunch presskand by -means of which metal plates can readily be: flanged either-along perfectly, straight edges or'concave or-convex edges as the case may be Attention is called to the fact that this device is provided with means for first'clamping the-plate so as to holdit securelyin position while the edge is being bent, and 1 then after the plate has been clamped bendin'gtheedge to "the angle de-' sired. "I also, want to call attention to the fact that thefpressur'e exertedby the-clamping means is proportional to the force required to bendthe plate, and, thereforethe plate willalways be securely held regardless ofthe amount of force requiredtoturn the-edgethereof Havingdescribed the invention what is claimed as-new is 1 ing member, a main bearing block mounted forimovement towards and away from. the

1. A flanging machine comprising, in combinatlon, a stationary flanging block, a clamps flanging block, a-leve r pivoted intermediate its ends to the main 'bea-ring,a plate clamp, links extendingifrom the'plate'clamp to. one

end of the lever, a flanging arm pivotally con- 11 ecte'd with ,the' plate clamp, links connecting the other end ,of' the lever with the flangingarm, astop ffor' one end of the'leverand-resilientmeans .fornormally holding the lever againstthe-stop. L a

2. In a flanging machine ofthe class described-,5 in combination, a flanging block adapted to be supported on the upper surface ofa tabla-an adjustable spacer between the block and the table,a'plate clamp located above the clamping block, means for moving the plate clamp towards and away from the flanging block, a flangingarm pivotally connected with the plate clamp, and means for producing relative rotary movement between the flanging arm and flanging block where the'latter remains stationary with respect'to use 3. In a"flanging machine of the classd'escribed, in combination; a fianging block havingfa transversely extending recess in itsup-' per surface, one side of said recess being formed by avertical wall and the other side being formed by a cylindrical surface ofisub stantia'lly ninety degrees angular extent; a main bearing mounted for movement towards and away from the flanging block; a; lever'com nected to the bearing block by a transverse pivot which extends through the lever betweenits ends, a plate clamphaving oneend pivotally connected with the flanging block on that side of the recess that is-formed by the cylindrical surface, the other end of the plate clamp being connected with'the: correspending end of the lever bymeans .of'a plu rality of links, a flanging armpivotally con 7 nected with the plate clamp and constrained.

to rotate; about an axis parallel with :the' Ver tical side of the recess, links connecting the other end of the lever with the fianging armand resilient means'associated with the-lever 'taneously for normally holding it in a predetermined:

position.

14; flanging'machine comprising a fiang-J I ing block adapted to rest upon a stationary table, said block having alrecess that has a transverse vertical wall, the flanging block having an upwardly extending lug on the other side ofthe recess, a plate clamp having two arms that embrace the lug and are pivot-'- ally connected to it, a fianging arm pivoted to the plate clamp and rotatable about an axis 7 tweenthe pivot points of the links.

thatis' parallel with the transverse vertical wall, a lever, links connecting'one end of the lever with the free end of the plate'clamp', links connecting the other end of the lever to the free end of the flanging' arm, and a main bearing block pivoted to the lever be- 5. A flanging machine comprising a flanging block adapted to rest upon a stationary table, said block havinga recess that has a transverse: vertical wall, the flanging block having an upwardly extending lug on. the other side of the recess, a plate clamp having two arms'that embrace the lug and are pivotally' connected to it, a Hanging arm pivoted to the plate clampand rotatable about an axis that is parallel with the'transverse vertical wall, a lever, links connecting one end of the lever .withthe'free end of the plate clamp,

links connecting the other end of the lever to the free endof the flanging arm, a main bearing block pivoted to the lever between the pivot points of theilinks,a:stopcarried by the bearing block in position to be engaged by that end of the lever to which the links are connected that join the lever to the flange ing block, and aspring interp'osedbetween the other end of the lever and the'mainbear-l ingblock. a

V6. A fianging device. comprising, in comrbination, a flanging block having a recess ex clampwhen the latter is Sta 

